Sharp goes IGZO for new high-res panels

Sharp's new high-resolution displays are the first to feature IGZO semiconductor technology, combining higher resolutions with dramatic power savings.

Sharp has announced the creation of its latest high-resolution display panels, which use indium gallium zinc oxide (IGZO) technology for massively reduced power draw.

Manufactured at Sharp's Kameyama Plant in Japan, the display panels use IGZO semiconductors to reduce the size of the thin-film transistor layer while simultaneously increasing pixel transparency. The result: high-resolution display panels that require a less powerful backlight, for an overall reduction in power draw of up to 90 per cent.

While production of the IGZO-based displays began back in March, the company has only just announced products based on the panels as it works to ramp up production ahead of a commercial roll-out.

For those who like plenty of pixels at their disposal, this is the exciting bit: the first display to feature the IGZO panels is a 32in model with a whopping 3,840 x 2,160 pixel resolution for a total of 140 pixels per inch. For a display of its size, that's undeniably impressive.

Intel's prediction of a high-resolution future is proved with Sharp's second IGZO-based product: a 10in panel for ultra-portable laptops and tablets boasting a resolution of 2,560 x 1,600 for an overall density of 300 pixels per inch - handily beating the smaller 2,048 x 1,536 'retina' display found in Apple's new iPad.

Finally, Sharp's smallest IGZO panel is a seven-inch unit designed for tablet PCs with a somewhat disappointing resolution of 1,280 x 800. Although meeting the 720p High Definition standard, it's overshadowed by its 10in brother - despite having an overall density of 217 pixels per inch.

Each panel has, in addition to the clever IGZO thin-film transistor layer, the UV2A*3 technology originally developed for Sharp's consumer-oriented Aquos HDTVs. Using UV2A*3, Sharp claims, results in a dramatic improvement in overall image quality.

Sharp won't be using the panels itself, however. Instead, it aims to provide the panels to original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) and original design manufacturers (ODMs) for use in stand-alone PC monitors, all-in-one systems, laptops and tablets. Thus far, the company has not indicated whether any OEMs or ODMs have signed up for the first production run - although Sharp does claim to be experiencing high market demand for the parts.

any word on the price? I would rather not sell my first born for a better monitor. While it's nice, I have a feeling there's an upper limit and diminishing returns on desktop monitors. For instance having a 4-5K pixel wide resolution on a 23" monitor won't enable you to do much more, everything would look a lot sharper, but after awhile you would be using processing power to driver extra pixels that don't help you. You're fundamentally limited by the size of workable things like windows, not the resolution. So while I welcome this technology I don't expect it to change my life.

also, it would require an exponential increase in processing power to driver video games at such high native resolutions

I've hung on to my power-hungry Dell 2407 16:10 24in IPS monitors for the last 5 years because the monitor manufacturers haven't offered me anything worth upgrading to without going to an impractical 30in.
Consolification of gaming hasn't helped. What is the point of getting a Bajillion MP panel if the games you play were designed to run at 1080, or even 720?

Since I purchased it, monitor resolutions haven't increased and nor has DPI, power use has dropped slightly (57-100w down to 38 - 75w), and "better" processing specifications haven't lead to an appreciably better viewing experience.
I have been wondering what they have been doing for the last few years.
Hopefully I am about to see.

I hope the introduction of high resolution displays will drive the PC gaming market somewhat.
More Pixels requires more POWER so giving enthusiasts more reason to buy Uber gaming PCs.
But then again its the console oriented developers that are holding us back...

All this talk of even higher resolutions has made me see any of the top line GPU's as a bad purchase at the moment (except for those with plenty spare money) unless I was to stay on 2560x1440 which I think I will, but still I think I'll hold on to my 580 until these big res screens go retail & GPU manufacturers have started doing good enough GPU's that can handle the bigger res easy, so looks like my 580 is going to be a keeper card for maybe another 2 years I'd guess, reminds me of the 8800GTX :D so I dont have to worry about going budget crazy for scraping the money for a 680 now. :D

I am loving the news of awesome res & lower power though, good steps forward. :)